The present inventive concept relates to nonvolatile memory devices and related methods of operation.
Semiconductor memory devices are microelectronic devices that may be used in microprocessor-based applications and computers for fields ranging from satellite to consumer electronics. Therefore, advances in memory fabrication technology, including technology development and process improvement obtained through scaling for high speed and high integration density, may influence the performance of other digital logic systems.
Semiconductor memory devices are generally classified into volatile memory devices and nonvolatile memory devices. Nonvolatile memory devices can retain data stored therein even when power supply thereto is interrupted. Data stored in nonvolatile memory devices may be permanent or reprogrammable according to memory fabrication technologies. Nonvolatile memory devices may also be used to store programs and/or microcode in various applications such as computers, avionics, communications, and consumer electronic technologies.
One example of a nonvolatile memory device is a flash memory device. Recently, as the demand for higher integration of memory devices has increased, multi-bit memory devices capable of storing multi-bit data in each memory cell have been pursued.